But the residents of 1 Cloud Street in this production look very different to those who appeared on stage in 1999.

The script has been amended, and the show has been cast with actors who, in Lutton's words, feel "contemporary in their cultural backgrounds and diversity".

Lutton has also amplified the voices of the play's previously marginalised Indigenous characters.

But with thousands of Australians holding fond memories of the original production — and many thousands more being fans of Tim Winton's 1991 novel — the stakes are high.

'Sounds like a counter lunch: Lamb and Pickles'

Winton's novel, adapted for the stage by playwrights Justin Monjo and the late Nick Enright, tells the story of two families living in Perth from the 1940s to 1960s.

Opening at the tail end of the World War II, the play follows the Lamb family and the Pickles family as they share a house on Cloud Street, having both suffered their own family trauma.

The house they live in is haunted by the ghosts of its previous occupants: Aboriginal girls taken from their families as part of the stolen generations, and the woman who held them there against their will.

The only person aware of the ghosts is Fish — a high-spirited boy from the Lamb family who acquires a brain injury in the opening scene after a near-drowning.

Part of Lutton's vision was to cast actors from a range of backgrounds in the Lamb and Pickles families — including three Indigenous Australians.

"Even though Tim has written two white families, following the [story's] thematic that there's no 'us and them', there's no reason why Indigenous and non-Indigenous actors can't play the Lambs and the Pickles today," Lutton said.

"It creates more layers of meaning. Particularly having a brilliant [Biripi and Worimi] actor in Guy Simon playing Quick. It sets up other conversations in your mind watching it."

Monjo, too, is excited by what an Indigenous Quick Lamb might contribute to the story: "I think having an Indigenous actor play Quick will be really interesting and it might add another resonance to the play."

Noongar actors Ian Michael and Ebony McGuire play several roles, including the now dual role of Storyteller, known in the original production only as Black Man.

"Having three First Nations actors in a play about home and belonging … is really powerful," said Michael.

"It's something that was missing so much in the original production."

Matthew Lutton agrees: "I felt uncomfortable that the Indigenous narrative within … the play was siloed to one character — one voice. It makes that one voice a sort of mythical authority, as opposed to grounded and human."

Making stories our own

Growing up in Perth, Ian Michael loved Cloudstreet: "I just loved the families, I loved the story … of finding a place to belong."

But, like Lutton, Michael felt that the Aboriginal characters weren't given the ability to speak about their experiences.

As well as amplifying that voice, the new production includes dialogue in the Noongar language — a language Ian Michael's father wasn't able to teach him.

"My dad was taken when he was a young boy from his parents, so my dad didn't grow up learning his language either — he was part of the Stolen Generation."

It's the play's incorporation of Noongar language that has most inspired Michael.

"The thing that hits me the most is being able to speak your own language in a play that didn't originally have that — a language that was dormant for so long and now we're able to bring back and put into stories that weren't originally ours but now feel … like ours.

"It's so not dormant anymore — it's really igniting."

Cloudstreet is on at the Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne until 16 June.